Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, announced "that our two formations in parliament have agreed to work together", referring to the MDC and a breakaway faction.

At a news conference in South Africa on Monday, Arthur Mutambara, the leader of the second faction of the MDC, said: "There will be no division amongst ourselves vis-a-vis the resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis.

Referring to Tsvangirai, Mutambara said: "I'm here to show solidarity to the winner of the presidential election in Zimbabwe."

The two MDC factions together control 109 seats against Zanu-PF's 97 seats, according to results from the March 29 elections.

A partial recount of results by Zimbabwe's electoral commission confirmed the opposition has a parliamentary majority.

Utoile Silaigwana, a spokesman for Zimbabwe's electoral commission, said recounts for five remaining constituencies were being collated and would be available on Tuesday.